Towards Inclusive Practice is a national project by Inclusion Australia. It was funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS).
The project aim is to give advice to government departments and other organisations about working in a way that is more inclusive of people with an intellectual disability.
This advice is presented as a series of guides, fact sheets, videos and Tip Sheets across a range of topics.
Project stakeholders
Towards Inclusive Practice project was co-designed in partnership with our state and territory members and a network of Inclusion Advisors with an intellectual disability.
- TIP Project Team – Inclusion Australia staff with and without intellectual disability who coordinated the project, supported the network and liaised with DSS.
- Inclusion Advisor Network – groups of people with an intellectual disability from each state and territory employed to share their experiences and ideas on inclusion.
- Network Facilitators – colleagues from our state and territory members who supported Inclusion Advisors in their work and gave feedback to the Project Team.
- National Steering Group – senior colleagues from Inclusion Australia members who provided strategic project advice and feedback.
- Inclusion Australia colleagues – input also came from colleagues in our policy, communications and engagement, inclusive practice and leadership teams.
TIP Inclusion Advisor network
The Inclusion Advisor Network was one of the most important parts of Towards Inclusive Practice.
4 people with an intellectual disability were employed by member organisations in each state and territory to share their experiences and give advice on inclusive practice. They chose the name Inclusion Advisors to describe their role.
This national network of 32 people worked with the Facilitators to:
- Identify topics that were important to them about inclusion
- Share their experiences of working with government and other organisations
- Give advice on how to be accessible and inclusive
- Answer questions set by the Project Team
- Review resources and give feedback
Inclusion Advisors were also filmed for a series of videos about Power and Trust.
We want to acknowledge the commitment, skills and experience of the Inclusion Advisors who took part in Towards Inclusive Practice.
For many people this was their first properly paid job.
To find out more about their experiences on the project and what this meant to them, you can read Inclusion Advisor stories on our main site:
- Noah – “Do not be afraid to speak your mind”
- Speak Out – “Sometimes the government doesn’t understand our disability”
- John – “Your opinions do matter, even if people disagree”
- Team SACID – Go Team SACID: working together to include everyone
- Parent 2 Parent Queensland – Towards Inclusive Practice: on a mission
We also want to say a huge thanks to all our State and Territory members without whom this project would not have been possible.